So called long and belly length putters offer many golfers the potential to achieve a smoother more pendulum like putting stroke advantageously improving the golfers likelihood of making a putt. The primary disadvantage of a long and/or belly length putter is that a golfer must be properly fitted to be comfortable when using the putter in order to achieve a beneficial result. Further, some long putters may be too long to facilitate ease of storage and/or storage for the purpose of transportation. The present invention is an improvement over the prior art wherein threaded shafts, jam nuts, detent pins, tapered shanks, collapsible shafts, lock nuts, threaded pins, removable grips, compression rings, conical bushings, locking pins, and set screws or combinations thereof are used as the primary means of adjustment for fitting or connection of the upper and lower shaft segments of a long or belly length putter. These mechanisms are of unnecessarily complicated design, and in some cases lacking user friendliness and may be illegal for play in accordance with the United States Golf Association and or the Royal and Ancient Rules of Golf of Saint Andrews, Scotland or the Royal Canadian Golf Association.
Applicant is aware of numerous attempts in the prior art to improve the field of golf clubs, putters, and particularly long and belly length putters. As an example the following United States patents deal with the connection, adjustability, and fitment of long and belly length putters: U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,874 which issued to Studebaker on Sep. 4, 2001, for a Golf Putter; U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,890 which issued to Prince on Apr. 10, 2001 for a Golf Putter; U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,412 which issued to Benson on Dec. 7, 1999 for an Extensible Golf Club; U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,030 which issued to Hsieh on Nov. 2, 1999 for an Adjustable Golf Club Handle Mounting Arrangement; U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,870 which issued to Harrison on Jul. 22, 1997 for an Elongated Golf Club Putter; U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,029 which issued to Heath et al. on Mar. 5, 1996 for an Adjustable Golf Shaft; U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,891 which issued to Thomas on Sep. 26, 1995 for a Golf Putter Improvements and Converter Methods; U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,802 which issued to Johnston on Aug. 8, 1978 for an Apparatus for Use In Manufacturing And Selecting Golf Clubs; U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,207 which issued to Florian on Jul. 25, 1972 for a Golf Putter Construction; U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,019 which issued to Palotsee on May 16, 1972 for an Adjustable Golf Putter; and applicant is further aware of the International Patent Application, No. PCT/NZ98/00056, for the Golf Club of Moore.
What follows is an excerpt from a publication of the United States Golf Association entitled A Guide to the Rules on Clubs and Balls, and in particular an excerpt regarding the rules for the adjustability of clubs:                “Adjustability        Appendix II, 1b states that:        Woods and irons shall not be designed to be adjustable except for weight. Putters may be designed to be adjustable for weight and some other forms of adjustability are also permitted. All methods of adjustment permitted by the Rules require that:                    (i) the adjustment cannot be readily made;            (ii) all adjustable parts are firmly fixed and there is no reasonable likelihood of them working loose during a round; and            (iii) all configurations of adjustment conform with the Rules.                        The disqualification penalty for purposely changing the playing characteristics of a club during a stipulated round (Rule 4-2a) applies to all clubs including a putter.        (i) General        In order to preserve the integrity of Rule 4-2 (Playing Characteristics Changed), this rule clearly states that it must not be too easy for a player to make adjustments during the course of a stipulated round. This is interpreted to mean that adjustments must require the use of a special tool, such as an Allen key or a Phillips screwdriver. It must not be possible to make the adjustments during a round.        (ii) Adjustability for Weight        All clubs may be designed to be adjustable for weight, provided the adjustment mechanism conforms to the conditions described previously and in Appendix II,1b of the Rules. Examples of what would and would not be permitted are illustrated below. [see FIG. 1b]        As already noted in Design of Clubs, Section 1a, with respect to adjustments for weight, the only exception to the conditions described in (i) above is the addition or removal of lead tape. This is a practice which pre-dates the introduction of the adjustability rules and is permitted on ‘traditional’ grounds. Of course, the addition or removal of lead tape during a round is not permitted (see Rule 4-2a and Decision 4-2/0.5 in “Decisions on the Rules of Golf”).        (iii) Other Kinds of Adjustability        Only putters may be designed to be adjustable in ways other than weight. For example, a putter may be designed to be adjustable for lie and length. Again, these adjustments must require the use of a special tool, not just the fingers or a coin, etc. If, as is often the case, a screw is used to fix the mechanism, the putter must, for all practicable purposes, be unusable without the screw being in place and tightly fixed.        When assessing the conformity of an adjustable putter, it is important to remember the third condition listed in Appendix II, 1b, and to ensure that the putter cannot be adjusted into a position which does not conform to the Rules. For example, a putter which is adjustable for lie must not be adjustable into a position where the shaft diverges from the vertical by less than ten degrees (see Appendix II, 1d and Design of Clubs, Section 1d), or any other position which would render the club non-conforming.”        
It has been the applicant's observation that so called belly putters and so called long putters require a trial and error fitment process of the end user in order for the end user to arrive at a satisfactory combination of grip positioning and overall length so as to thereby be able to comfortably use long and belly length putters. Because golfers come in various shapes and sizes, and golfers use putters differently, trial and error fitment is advantageous when long and belly length putters are being considered for purchase.
Although popular on various golf professional tours, with professionals of all ages, long and belly length putters have not made significant inroads with the golfing public. Retailers are reluctant to inventory items that may only fit or work for very few individuals.
It has been the applicant's observation that a legal-for-play, user friendly fitment system could satisfy both golfers' demands and retailers' reservations thereby bringing long and belly length putters to mainstream golfing. Additionally, a belly length putter fitment system could be used to arrive at an overall length measurement for a single long grip belly length putter.